`Bleak' Copper Seen Needing 17% Drop to Force Deeper Cuts
- `Shell-shocked' producers may have no alternative but to cut
- World's biggest producer Codelco says it won't reduce output
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Copper could slide a further 17 percent by next year, plumbing fresh lows and forcing “shell-shocked” producers to make much deeper output cuts as consumption growth stalls in China, according to Ed Meir, an analyst at INTL FCStone Inc.
Demand in the world’s biggest user won’t expand next year, Meir said in an interview at an industry conference in Shanghai. “It’s grim-to-bleak, so the onus is on the supply side. The market needs to transition to a lower price point to force more cuts.”